Rory's Choice
by Knock Knock 7
Summary: Rory's thoughts through 'The Girl Who Waited'. Spoilers for Season 6.
1. Prologue

Rory's Choice

Knock Knock 7

Disclaimer: I own no part of Doctor Who and am in no way affiliated with it. This is for entertainment purposes only. Some of the dialogue is taken from 'The Girl Who Waited' written by Tom MacRae.

Author's Note: I've never attempted something so long before but I couldn't pass up a chance to write a story about Rory and his relationship with Amy as well as his friendship with the Doctor.

Prologue: The Impossible Choice

Rory Williams had always known what he wanted in life. A nice job as a small town doctor so that he could care and help those that needed him. A decent house—but not fancy and posh, just a simple place he could call home. He had wanted to be the best dad the universe had ever seen. But more than anything in his life, Rory Williams had wanted to marry Amelia Pond.

And, with a little help from a raggedy man with a Blue Box, he had. But things had gone wrong—like they always did when you were a time traveler—and life had gotten just a bit trickier.

Now a choice lay before him, an impossible choice that he could never make. A choice that would shatter his heart, no matter what he chose. A choice that was his and his alone.

Unlock the door or keep it sealed? That was all there was to it.

Murder the one who was begging him to let her in or kill the one who was already safe? One had to die and he had to choose.

Right here, right now. The choice…


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Appalapachia," The Doctor's voice shattered the companionable silence as he ran around the console room, excitement glinting in his eyes.

"Say it again?" Amy asked, watching the Raggedy Man as he danced around the controls, pushing buttons and knobs as if there were no tomorrow.

It was a typical day in the TARDIS. The Ponds/Williams had woken up with no sight or sound of their leader—which was, to be honest, not in the least unusual. Whether he was off in some part of the TARDIS or outside—wherever outside was—they had never figured out. He had appeared out of nowhere as they ate breakfast, with a smile and a joke that made them laugh.

"Appalapachia!" The Doctor yelled happily repeating the alien name, seeming to relish in teaching his companions what they didn't know.

"Appalapachia?" Amy and Rory both tried out the unfamiliar word, finding it easier the more it was said.

"What a beautiful word," Rory's wife smiled, perking up at the thought of seeing a new planet.

Rory could feel the nervous excitement that he always felt when they were about to step onto a new world, or perhaps a star, or maybe even a spaceship. Wherever and whenever the TARDIS took them. The only way to live.

"Beautiful word, beautiful world." The Doctor pushed one final button and the TARDIS jerked, causing the two Humans to catch their balance. "Appalapachia. Voted number two planet in the 'Top Ten Greatest Destinations for the Discerning Intergalactic Traveler'."

Rory walked over to him and quietly asked, "Why couldn't we go to number one?"

"It's hideous!" The Time Lord defended himself like Rory had insulted him, "Everyone goes to number one, planet of the coffee shops." He turned around and ran to the door, "Appalapachia. I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. I give you…" And with a flourish he opened the door and stepped aside to let Rory through.

"Doors." Rory stated a bit disappointed to see a white room with only one door at the end.

The Doctor popped his head out before the rest of his body followed, "Doors, yes. I give you doors. But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades."

"Have you seen my phone?" Amy interrupted from within the ship's doorway, cutting off the Doctor's energetic speech.

"Your phone," The Doctor repeated in a shocked voice, his face mirroring Rory's own.

"Yeah."

"Your mobile telephone." The Doctor began to walk slowly towards her, an annoyed look on his face. "I bring you to a paradise planet two billion light years from Earth and you want to update Twitter?" He finished in outrage.

"Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades." Amy rolled her eyes as she explained, "It's a camera phone."

"On the counter, by the DVDs." The Doctor muttered, shaking his head.

Rory turned away from them to stare at the door. It was silver and smooth, with two buttons on the wall right by it. But all in all, it was rather a boring door. "How do we get in?" He asked the Doctor as he came to join Rory in staring at the door.

"I don't know. Push a button." The Doctor shrugged.

Rory glanced at the two buttons on the edge of the door. _Maybe it was an elevator, _he thought absently. One button said Green Anchor, it was green and had a picture of an anchor on it. The second one was Red Waterfall, it was red and had water on it. Rory chose the former over the latter simply because according to the telly, red was always trouble.

The door opened to reveal another room, though smaller than the one they had just left. There were a couple of oddly shaped chairs and a table in the middle of the room with what looked like a big looking glass in the middle of it.

"Okay, so, rain check on the soaring silver colonnades." The Doctor said sadly.

"Yeah." Rory agreed as they walked into the room together. The door closed behind them. "It's a magnifying glass." He said as the Doctor examined the room, before moving to the table.

"Hey, hey, it's locked." Amy's voice floated to them from outside the door.

"Yeah, push the button." Rory called to her, watching as the Doctor moved from the table to explore the tiny room again. What he could find that he hadn't before in the short amount of space they had, Rory didn't know, but he didn't bother to ask the Doctor. Sometimes it was best just to let the man do his own thing…Which he would do, no matter what Rory asked him.

He waited for a moment before he started to worry. What was taking Amy so long, why wasn't she here yet? She had been right by the door when she called to him; it shouldn't be taking this long for her to open it. He leaned on the table absently counting the seconds in his head, "Come on Amy." He prayed.

The Doctor seemed thoughtful as he stared at the back wall. Finally, unable to take it any longer, Rory went back to the first room. He looked around but didn't see his wife. A knot of fear settled in his stomach, but he tried not to show it as he went back to the Doctor. "Where on wherever we are is my wife?" He asked, hoping against hope that the man would know the answer as he had known where Amy's phone was.

The Doctor glanced at him but stayed silent as he sat in the chair at the table and pushed a button. "Rory," He said, staring at the magnifying glass, "I think I've found her."

"What do you mean you've found her?" Rory asked confused by the Doctor's knowledge, though he had a feeling that it had something to do with the looking glass. He walked over to look and sure enough, there in the glass was his wife's beautiful face. "Whoa!" Rory exclaimed looking around the table though he knew there was no way she could be there. He was right. "But…No, but she's not here! We can see her, but she's not here?"

The Doctor and Amy mirrored each other as they both looked over the glass and back down. "Where am I?" Amelia asked slowly, "In fact, where are you?"

Neither of them could help but look over the table again, as if they would magically reunite. Which Rory would be perfectly fine with, but they had no such luck. The table remained empty beyond the Doctor and Rory himself.

Abruptly the door opened and a form appeared. A white robot with a circular head and no face stepped into the room, holding up two hands that looked nothing like machinery but very real—almost human only whiter.

"Hands, hello, Hands." The Doctor smiled, putting up his own hands and waving to the android. Rory followed his lead, waving shyly to it. "Robot with hands, Rory." Fascinated as always with new technology.

"Welcome to the Two-Streams Facility." The robot started, "Will you be visiting long?"

Rory shrugged in answer, still unsure of just what was happening.

"Uh, Doctor," Amy said suddenly, reminding the room of her unexplained presence, "something's happening."

Immediately, the Doctor ran to the glass which was now shimmering and Amy's form was distorted and slipping away, like a scratch on a DVD. The Time Lord pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and scanned the glass, causing it to shimmer again.

Rory glanced at the robot who was apparently waiting for their answer, before turning once again to the glass.

"Amy?" The Doctor instructed her, "Stay calm, stay still. Uh, time's gone wobbly. I hate it when it does that."

"Will you be visiting long?" The robot asked, abruptly pushing its hand in front of Rory's face.

Rory jerked back in shock, "Good question. A bit sinister…What's the answer to not get us killed?" He asked the robot, backing up slowly, the robot following his every move.

Rory glanced at the Doctor, hoping for some help. He didn't get it. "It's okay. I've got you. You're fine." He whispered to Amy.

"Will you be visiting long?" The robot asked again.

Rory couldn't blame the Doctor for helping his wife, but he had reached the end of the wall and the robot was getting more and more insistent with its hands. "Doctor, a little help, Doctor!"

"And where have you been?" Amy's voice was farther away but Rory didn't have time to wonder why.

"Will you be visiting long?" The robot repeated.

"What do I tell it?" Rory yelled for help. The Doctor started to come, his face worried, but Amy's voice kept him where he was.

"I've been here a week!" Amy yelled.

"A week?" The Doctor asked his voice lost in thought.

"A week?" Rory shouted, and this time it wasn't because the robot's threatening movements.

"I'm so sorry. Aha! Same room, different times. Two different time streams running parallel, but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster time stream!" The Doctor finished quickly before clapping his hands over his mouth, trying unsuccessfully to hide his excitement at this change in plans.

Rory didn't have time to care because at that moment the robot thrust its hand to Rory's neck. "Doctor!" He screamed.

"Amy!" The Doctor yelled for some reason that Rory didn't know.

"Doctor!" Amy's cry for help faded away.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Ah, come on. Come on." The Doctor did something to the glass with the screwdriver, "Gotcha! There! Stabilized. Settled. Shh." He commanded Amy before rushing to Rory's side, where the threatening robot had stopped, his hand still uncomfortably close to Rory's throat.

"Organic skin." He said, fascinated with the robot's hands. Rory, who was currently being threatened by those same hands, did not appreciate the Doctor's excitement over them. "Ultimate universal interface. Grown and grafted, not born. I mean, it's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room. But why not just give it eyes?"

"Will you be visiting long?" The robot asked yet again.

"As long as it takes." The Doctor said sternly, before moving once again to the table. "Amy, what exactly did you do?"

"Well," Amelia started, and Rory couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of her calm voice. "I just came in and pressed a door button."

"Oh!" Rory said, as it all clicked into place, he looked at moving past the robot but there was no room. As if it could read his thoughts, the robot moved slightly to the side, letting Rory slide past it and walk to where he could see his wife's face. "Amy, there are two buttons. The Green Anchor and the Red Waterfall."

"Which one did you push?" The Doctor asked quietly.

"I pushed the Red Waterfall." Amy said like a child being rebuked by her father.

Rory shook his head as he once again made his way to the first room. Behind him, he could hear the Doctor's voice as he comforted Amy and promised her that they would get her out. His voice faded as the door closed and Rory pushed the Red Waterfall button. He took a step in the room but his inspection of the room showed no one. "Amy." He called anyway. With no answer, he turned around and went back to the Doctor, frustrated beyond belief. It was kind of like that time when Amy and him had been stuck in a maze: they could hear each other but whatever turn they made only led them further apart. Maybe the Doctor would memorize a map that he had seen for a split second and rescue them again.

"I pressed Red Waterfall and she wasn't there!" Rory informed the Doctor, taking out some of his frustration on the Time Lord simply because he was the only one who could make it all better.

The Doctor stood up as he entered the room and Rory took his place in front of the glass. "Okay, so you can't follow her directly…" He began to pace the room before he stopped in front the robot. "Did you hear that, HandBot? She pressed the wrong button, that's all. We're aliens, we didn't know!" He threw his hands up to illustrate his point.

"Statement rejected." The HandBot stated, and a red button flashed on his stomach. The Doctor studied the two buttons—green and red like everything else in this stupid building. Rory hadn't been here ten minutes and he was already sick of the white rooms and the green and red little buttons that just seemed to cause trouble.

"Appalapachia is under planet-wide quarantine." The robot continued. Rory threw a reassuring smile at his wife. "This is a Kindness Facility, for those infected with Gen-7."

The Doctor immediately threw his coat over his face, covering his mouth with it. Rory did the same, walking over to them. "What?" He asked. Anything that made the Doctor react like that, terrified Rory.

"Gen-7." The Doctor replied as if that explained everything. It didn't.

"Hmm…"

"The one-day plague." The Doctor said focused more on the robot than he was on his companion.

"What, you get it for a day?" Rory asked confused. That didn't sound so bad, but he doubted that was what it was, not with the Doctor's immediate action in the forefront of his mind.

"No, you get it and you die in a day." The Doctor replied, proving Rory's thoughts right.

Of course, he thought tiredly, nothing could ever be simple.

"There are forty-thousand residents in the Two-Streams Facility. Please remain in the sterile areas." With that the HandBot bowed to them and disappeared in a blue light.

The Doctor nodded and uncovered his face. "Sterile area, I'm safe." He sighed in relief as he walked back to Amy.

Rory uncovered his own face and joined them at the table.

"What about me?" Amy tapped the glass, a scared look on her face.

"Gen-7 only affects two-hearted races, like Appalapachians." The Doctor said, as he sat down in the chair.

Rory frowned and leaned in closer to him, "And Time Lords." He whispered. It was no wonder the Doctor had reacted so strongly to hearing the name of the disease.

"Yeah, like me. Walk into that facility, I'm dead in a day." The Doctor said solemnly, his mind racing with plans.

Rory clapped him gently on his shoulder, unsure of what this new information was going to do to their not-yet-thought of plan. Rory shared a glance with his wife but there was nothing for them to do except wait for the Doctor to tell them what to do.

Abruptly, the Raggedy Man stood up and began to pace, too energetic to sit for more than a moment. "Time is faster on Amy's side of the glass." He said absently. "Uh, Amy, you said you'd been here a week. What did you eat?"

"Nothing." Amy answered slowly. "I wasn't hungry."

"No." The Doctor nodded, and Rory knew he had figured something out. "Because with that big waterfall, time is compressed. That's the point of the time glass."

Now that the Doctor was on a roll, Rory sat down and listened to his rapid explaining, trying to understand at least some of the words he was saying.

"It synchs up the two time streams for visits." The Doctor continued. "You could be in here for a day. And watch them live out their entire lives." He leaned over Rory's shoulder to look at Amy.

"And watch them grow old in front of your eyes. That's horrible!" Rory whispered, staring at his wife. How could anyone do that? Who would want to watch their loved ones grow old and die while you stayed young and healthy? Would that happen to Amy?

"No, Rory, it's kind." The Doctor contradicted. "You've got a choice. Sit by their bedside for twenty-four hours and watch them die or sit in here for twenty-four hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?"

His argument made Rory think about what he would do if it was up to him, but he could think of no answer with Amy on the other side of the glass. He did not want to ever think about her dying let alone watching it happen. And just in a day, he would have no time to prepare himself for life without her…But then again, could he ever prepare himself for that nightmare of a reality?

Abruptly, the Doctor picked the glass up from the table and walked to the side of the room. Rory followed him, unable to let his wife leave his sight with those thoughts still in his mind.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, as the glass disappeared on her side. She sat down and covered her face with her hands, "Doctor, no, don't leave me."

Rory's heart broke at her words and her hopeless face and he had to catch himself from grabbing the glass from the Doctor and telling her he would find a way to get her out. This wasn't the time for rashness, this was the Doctor's time to shine and Rory knew that in the end, that would be best. So, he reined his marital instincts in and waited impatiently for the Doctor to do what Rory so desired to do.

"I'm here, Amy. I'm right here." The Doctor comforted, and Amy looked up at the sound of his voice.

"Where are you? Am I looking at you?" She asked and Rory felt a bit better now that she was being inquisitive.

"Turn left, just a fraction." The Doctor suggested, and Amy obeyed, "Bit more. Stop. That's it." He smiled slightly.

"Eye to eye?" Amy wondered aloud.

"Eye to eye, do I." The Doctor murmured softly.

"Hello." Rory greeted. Amy nodded a bit in answer then stood and waited for them.

"Amy, I'm taking the time glass back to the TARDIS." He looked over at Rory as he explained then back at her, "Like SatNav, I can use it to get a lock on you, then smash through using the TARDIS to get you out. Until then, you're on your own." He pulled out the sonic and used it on the glass.

"Uh, what you doing?" Rory asked curiously.

"Locking it onto Amy. Small act of vandalism, no one will mind." To prove him wrong, an alarm sounded loudly all around them. "Ah! That'll be the small act of vandalism alarm." His voice turned deadly serious, "Amy, I need you to go into the facility, just for a bit. Find somewhere safe and leave me a sign. Remember you're immune to Gen-7 but don't let them give you anything. They don't know you're alien. Their kindness will kill you. Now, go."

Amy nodded and moved to the doorway. The door opened and she started to walk out but she stopped and turned around. "Rory, I love you." She said, making Rory's heart swell with emotion. "Now, save me. Go on." With that the door closed and she disappeared.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"This is locked onto Amy permanently." The Doctor stated as Rory followed him into the TARDIS. "Play this signal into the console, the TARDIS will follow it." The Doctor set the time glass onto the main controls before looking into one of the many storage areas on the floor. "Now, then, I know you're in here." He muttered.

Rory watched him as he rummaged through a tool box; he had no idea what the Doctor was looking for but all would be explained in time…Well, one could always hope.

"Ha-ha!" The Doctor laughed as he put on some thick, black glasses, "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous." Rory answered honestly, closing the distance between them.

"Glasses are cool, see?" The Time Lord replied easily, taking the glasses off and setting them on Rory's face." Oh, yes. Hello, handsome man."

"Oh, hello." Rory said awkwardly, wondering what the glasses could have to do with rescuing his wife.

"Hello, Rorycam." The Doctor laughed as he pointed to the screen behind them.

"Oh, you can see what I see, right?" He nodded in understanding as he looked at the screen and saw the picture screen move as he himself moved his eyes.

"You're breaking into Two-Streams. Now, I can't go in there, the Gen-7 will kill me. No regeneration." His voice was calm but Rory felt a chill at his words. The Human had already seen that happen and he did not care to relive those horrible memories. "You will be my eyes and ears." The Doctor finished, pulling Rory back to the present.

"Rorycam. Rescue Amy." Rory nodded in understanding. He could do this—he would do this for his wife.

"Mmm-hmm." The Doctor confirmed softly.

"Got it." Rory walked slowly away from him as he tried desperately to quash the fear deep in within in his heart. He was supposed to go out there by himself with no physical help from the Doctor. He was supposed to relay all the information he had to the Doctor and rescue his wife by himself…No pressure.

"Now, smashing through a time wall could get a bit hairy." The Doctor interrupted his musings as if Rory didn't have enough on his mind already.

"Is it safe?" He asked worriedly.

"Don't know. Never tried." The Doctor said honestly. "Best hold on to something." He grinned over at Rory and with a glint in his serious eyes, he made them disappear.

"Ah!" The Doctor announced as the TARDIS finished materializing. Rory rushed to open the doors as the Doctor laughed giddily in barely contained excitement.

"Oh, Red Waterfall. We made it!" Rory exclaimed happily as he stepped into what looked like a room in a museum. An alien museum.

"Good on us." The Doctor's voice sounded like he was standing right next to Rory though he had stayed inside the ship: it was coming from the glasses.

"How do we know that we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?" Rory asked suddenly, as the thought struck him. Were they going to have to do this again? How many times could the TARDIS handle breaking through time walls? And how safe really was it?

"Focus on the positive." The Time Lord murmured and Rory made an effort to do just that. "We locked onto Amy's time stream." Rory nodded as he looked around the room—white of course—with exhibits of things around the universe. His eyes caught site of what looked like an Earthen statue, and he stared at it absently, wondering what poor Amy was doing at the moment. "Eyes front, soldier." The Doctor commanded.

"Right, yes, sorry," Rory shook his head as he forced himself to focus on the situation here and now.

"Appalapachians are the great cultural scavengers, Rory." The Doctor explained the reason for the room with all the different objects around. "This gallery's a scrapbook of all their favorite places.

"Bit of Earth," Rory said as he spotted the Mona Lisa before he caught sight of what looked like a square with holes in it, "Bit of alien." The next thing he saw was a small statue with sticky drops of what could have been water pour down as the color changed from a dark blue to a deep purple, "Bit of…Whatever that is."

He reached the end of the room and went through a door that led to a long white room. "Where is everyone?" He asked curiously, wondering if perhaps something had gone wrong when they went through the time wall and now they could not see or talk to anyone while they were here.

"Right, Rory, switch the time glass on the sonic key," The Doctor ordered in answer to Rory's question. He went on as Rory did as he was told. "I'm sending a command signal to the screwdriver. Amy's here somewhere. If I can just get a lock on her. I wonder what happens if we mix the filters?"

Rory finished sonicing the glass and before him, through the lens of the looking glass, thousands of shadows appeared before him, living the lives they could never had lived outside of this facility, passing through the world like footprints washed over by the waves of the ocean. Rory stared at them sadly and felt his heart break in pain. For them and their loved ones.

"And there they are. Forty-thousand time streams overlapping." The Doctor whispered, "Red Waterfall isn't one time stream. It's thousands."

"Are they happy?" Rory asked, sincerely curious if this facility was really kind as the HandBot had claimed.

"Oh, Rory, trust you to think of that." The Doctor responded softly, "I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative."

Rory had no time to respond as through the black shadows a white and red figure came into the sight, the physical form blurry through the time glass. He lowered the glass just in time to see his attacker as whatever or whoever it was bowled into him.

"I come in peace. Peace, peace, peace." Rory repeated as his attacker pointed a very sharp looking sword at his neck. Whoever it was, it wasn't a robot like they had seen before though there were several parts of one of the robots that were being used as armor.

"I waited." The form said in an electronic voice.

"Sorry," Rory swallowed nervously before continuing, "What?"

"I waited for you." The voice repeated, only confusing Rory further. "I waited for you!" And then, the form took off the helmet that it had been wearing and a face stared down at him in anger.

"Amy."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Amy." Rory whispered, horrified at the woman that stood before him. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"Uh…"The Doctor whispered softly, his voice sounded almost as shocked as Rory felt. "Uh, I think the time stream lock might be a bit wobbly."

Rory stood up slowly, watching the woman before him carefully. She was Amelia, there could be no doubt about that. But not his Amy. His Amy was young and vibrant, this Amelia was…old. Her skin was all wrinkled, her beautiful ginger hair had faded, her dark eyes were sad, and her face was set angrily. Abruptly, she raised her sword and he held his hands up in a peaceful manner. "No, please, please."

"Duck." She said and even her voice was different. Bitter, hard, cold.

Rory did as she commanded and she stabbed her sword straight through a HandBot's head. "Oh!" He exclaimed in surprise.

He straightened up as she moved to the fallen robot. "HandBots carry a black box in case they go offline." She pulled out a strange circular device out and placed it on the HandBot. "I've changed the cause of termination from 'hostile' to 'accidental'. Easy to reprogram, use my sonic probe."

"Amy." Rory said again, unable to say anything but her name, unable to look away from her.

"Rory." She stated and turned her head to glare at him before turning her attention to the HandBot once again.

"Why?" He breathed.

"Because the only way I've survived this long is by making the HandBots think I don't exist." She explained. "Don't touch the hands. There's anesthetic transfer in the skin. If they touch you, you go to sleep."

"But you're still here." He whispered blankly.

Amy stood up and looked him straight in the eye, "You didn't save me." She turned around and walked away from him like she hadn't just torn his heart out and stomped on it.

He stared at her for a moment before running in front of her. "But this is the saving. This is the us saving you!" He yelled, "The Doctor just got the timing a bit out!" He added angrily for the man who saw through his eyes and heard through his ears.

"I've been on my own here, a long long time." She looked down and refused to meet his eyes, "I've had decades to think nice thoughts about him. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade four."

Rory's heart stopped for a moment as he processed her words. "Forty years?" He asked pained by the thought of his wife all alone on a world with no one to speak to. "Alone?"

"Thirty-six years. Thanks." She glanced at him, before she looked away again, her hand absently messing with her hair. She cleared her throat awkwardly.

"No, right, I mean…" Rory started in an effort to dig himself out of this hole that was so out of place in this colorless world. "You look great. Really. Really."

"Eyes front, soldier." Amy commanded quietly, unknowingly echoing the Doctor's earlier command.

"Still can't win, then?" Rory shrugged and laughed, trying hard to make light of this horrible situation.

Amy did not smile, merely walked away from him. "In fact, I think I can now definitely say I hate him." Rory stared at her, her words as impossible as him ever telling her that he hated her. His heart broke. There were two things he knew for certain about Amelia Pond: She loved him with all her heart and she loved the Doctor as her closest friend. "I hate the Doctor. I hate him more than I've ever hated anyone in my life." She stepped closer to him, "And you can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, raggedy man?"

"Uh, yes." Rory jumped slightly as the Doctor's voice came through the glasses. He had forgotten for the moment that the Doctor was there with them at least in one sense. "Putting the speakerphone on."

"You told me to wait and I did." Amy told him angrily, "A lifetime."

"Amy!"

"You've got nothing to say to me." Amelia yelled at him.

"Amy, behind you!" The Doctor warned, heedless of her harsh words to him.

Amelia reacted instantly: she looked behind her and spotted two robots coming toward them and ran behind them, she threw her sword to Rory, and grabbed a wrist of both the HandBots, carefully avoiding the touch of their hands, and touched the two hands together.

"Feedback knocks them out. Learned that trick on my first day." She said and walked out of the room, not bothering to wait for her baffled husband. Rory shook his head and followed her out.

"Okay, so we just take the TARDIS back to the right time stream, eh?" Rory asked hopefully. "We can stop any of this happening."

"We locked onto a time stream, Rory." The Doctor said and Rory could almost see the Time Lord shaking his head slowly, his eyes locked onto the screen. "This is it."

"This is so wrong." Rory said. With every particle of his being, he knew that this bitter, cold woman should not exist. He should have rescued her. He _would _rescue her—somehow.

"I got old, Rory." She said angrily. "What did you think was going to happen?"

Rory stopped, hurt by her presumption more than he should have been. He shook his head and grabbed her hand, forcing her to look at him. "I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together." He explained honestly. "Amy, come on, please."

She pulled her hand away from his forcefully, "Don't touch me. Don't do that." Then she turned around and walked away, leaving him on his own. Again.

"It's like you're not even her." He called after her, struggling to wrap his brain around this situation. They had been through so much, but now…This was so wrong. This was too much.

"Thirty-six years, three months, four days of solitary confinement." Amelia responded, still walking in front of him. "This facility was built to give people a chance to live. I walked in here and I died." She turned around and walked close to stare into the glasses. "Do you have anything to say? Anything, Doctor?"

"Where did you get a sonic screwdriver?" The Doctor asked his calm and curious voice cutting through the intensity and the sadness of the situation that they were in.

"I made it. And it's a sonic probe."

Rory stared at her in astonishment. He had always known that his wife was smart—smarter than him—but making her own sonic device was amazing. "You made a sonic screwdriver?" He asked her, proud of his wife before he remembered that she should never have had to build one if he rescued her sooner.

"Probe." Amelia clarified. "I learned how to work with some of the Appalapachian technology from the Interface here."

She led them into a room that looked a lot like an engine room on a spaceship. He followed her into a little alcove where she had hung a couple nets to cover what must be her normal living quarters. They were sparse with few things lying around but Rory was unconcerned about that, what did bother him was the HandBot standing in the corner of the room.

"Don't worry about him." Amy said distracted, as she took the headband she wore off. "Sit down, Rory."

He did as he was told before he noticed that the robot had done the same thing. He stared at it for a moment; it looked like the other robots except that she had drawn a face on it. "You named him after me?" He asked absently. He supposed that should make him feel a little bit better. But it didn't.

"Needed a bit of company." She muttered.

"Oh, so he's like your—"

"Pet." She answered his question before he could finish it.

"Is it safe?" He asked. Though he supposed it was since she apparently trusted it.

"Yeah. I disarmed it." Amy responded, walking over to the robot.

"Oh. How?" Rory asked curiously. That was probably a good thing to know if they were going to be here for any length of time. Then his eyes caught sight of the robot's arms and a jumble of wires where the hands should have been. "Oh, yo—you disarmed it."

"Oh, don't get sentimental. It's just a robot. You'd have done the same." She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know that I would have." The Doctor said suddenly, startling Rory again.

"And there he is." Amelia's voice turned as cold as ice. "The voice of God. Survive because no one's going to come for you. Number one lesson. You taught me that."

"Is that really all I taught you?" The Doctor asked quietly.

Amelia's face froze before she glared angrily at the glasses. "Don't you lecture me. Blue box man flying through time and space on whimsy. All I've got, all I've had for thirty-six years is cold, hard reality. So, no, I don't have a sonic screwdriver because I'm not off on a romp. I call it what it is. A probe. And I call my life what it is. Hell."

She walked away suddenly and Rory stared after her sadly. His heart felt like someone had ripped it out of chest and burned it to ashes. He wanted to weep for her. He wanted to put his arms around her and tell her that everything would be okay—the Doctor would get them out. He wanted to kiss away her bitterness and hold her till all her anger melted into the compassion he was so used to. He wanted to save her.

He just didn't how.

"Amy Pond, I'm going to put this right." The Doctor promised, and Rory felt a bit of relief at his determination. He might actually be able to get them out of this. "You said you learned from an interface. Can I speak with it?"

"It doesn't work in here." She answered hesitantly as she glanced at her watch. "2:23, the garden will be clear now." She started toward the door before glancing awkwardly back at him. "Stay or go?"

Rory waited for the Doctor to answer before he realized that she was talking to him. "Sorry, me? No, I'm coming with you." He didn't want her to leave his sight. Not after what had happened the last time he had left her on her own.

"Then try not to get killed, or do, whatever." She looked down, refusing to meet his eyes before walking away.

He followed her as she led the way through white corridors into a room where there were 6 portals and a console in the middle. She pushed a button and led them into a garden. If he had bothered to look around, Rory would have thought it was the most beautiful garden in the entire universe. But he was too busy carefully watching every move his wife made to notice the beauty around them.

"When I first came here, I had to trick the interface into giving me information." Amelia explained as they walked down a flight of stairs, "I've reprogrammed it now. It will tell me anything except how to escape."

"You hacked it?" Rory asked casually. "That's genius." She glanced at him in surprise before looking away and he couldn't help but wonder why she wouldn't look at him for any amount of time. It was almost like she couldn't, as if looking into his eyes and believing in his love would break down the walls that she had built to protect herself.

"Sorry to interrupt that beautiful moment," The Doctor said but he didn't sound apologetic at all, "but temporal engines like that have a regulator valve, has to be kept at a distance from the main reactor or there'd be feedback. Interface, where's the regulator?"

"The regulator valve is held within." A woman's voice said, it was calm and encouraging. Suddenly in front of them a three dimensional map appeared, easily detailing the location to what the Doctor had asked.

"Oh, ho. Very, very…Interface, I need to run through some technical specifications." The Doctor said excitedly. "Rory, give me to Amy a minute."

He didn't hesitate to obey; this was after all what he had wanted: the Doctor figuring a way out. "Here you go." He took the glasses off and made to set them on his wife's face but she startled back from his touch. Awkwardly he changed the movement to hand them to her and she took them.

She put them on and if they had been in a different situation he may have smiled at the odd looking glasses sitting on Amy's round face but he stopped himself. His Amy may have joined in with him but something told him that this Amelia wouldn't take too kindly to it.

"They look ridiculous." She stated with a hint of curiosity in her voice, almost as if she was testing his reaction.

"That's what I told him." He bypassed then easily joked, "Still, anything beats a fez, eh?" She laughed with him and for a moment the trouble they were in disappeared because she may have been older but she was still his wife and he still loved her and this was how they had always acted with each other. But then, she stopped and looked at him with a strange expression on her face that he couldn't interpret. "What is it?" He asked gently.

"I think that's the first time I've laughed in thirty-six years." She answered honestly.

He stared at her heartbreakingly, because all he wanted was for that beautiful moment to last but he didn't know how to make it stay. So instead he started to walk away and said, "I'll just, um, leave you two geniuses alone. I'll be back in a minute."

He wandered around the garden, because he wanted to give her what comfort she could as the Doctor collaborated with her. Because he wanted to put a little bit of distance between them. She was his wife but the thirty-six years that she had been separated from civilization had changed her into a woman he barely recognized and shouldn't that make a difference in their relationship?**.) **

Rory looked around at the sights and felt a little bit of the worry slip away because the Doctor was working it all out, Amelia was alive and relatively safe, and there was color—vibrant and alive. But he paused when he saw a door, like the one that had led them here, in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing around it, nothing holding it up, and there seemed to be no reason for it. The sterile white looked completely out of place in this beautiful, colorful garden.

"How can you have a door without a wall?" He wondered aloud. He reached it and went to look around the door but he ran into something that he couldn't see. "Holographic wallpaper?" He asked because that just seemed rather ridiculous. But he didn't have any time to think about it as he turned around and saw a HandBot standing right in front of him. He had no time to react before the robot touched his neck and Rory fell to the ground.

"Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness…" He heard the words as if from afar before he slipped into unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Rory opened his eyes slowly to see his wife kneeling over him.

"Rory." Amelia's voice, worried and concerned. His eyes focused on her groggily.

"Glasses." He murmured as his eyes adjusted. The lights blinded him slightly but his eyes corrected quickly, a sign that he hadn't been out of it for long. His head hurt bad but not enough for a concussion so that was good.

"Stupid!" Amy yelled suddenly, standing up quickly and walking a few steps away from him.

"You saved me." He stated happily as he began to sit up, watching her carefully because he saw traces of tears on her face.

"Don't get used to it." She responded angrily as if she couldn't believe that she had let herself care about his well-being.

"You've been crying. A little bit." He said, hoping that she would confide in him and tell him what was wrong. But she didn't.

"Shut up, Rory." She answered, shaking her head still angry over saving him.

"You have, haven't you?" He asked, because she was different and maybe he didn't know her as much as he knew his Amy. Was that possible for someone to change so much in what seemed to him such a short amount of time.

"Woman with a sword." She replied, brandishing the weapon to prove her point. "Don't push it."

"Okay." The Doctor laughed at them before he started to explain, his voice serious. "Time is always a bit wibbly-wobbly but in Two Streams, its extra wobbly." Amelia took the glasses off and set them on Rory's face. "I've worked out a way to hijack the temporal engines, and use them to fold two points of Amy's timeline together. We're bringing her out of the 'then' and in the 'now'! Amy, I just need to borrow your brain a minute. It won't hurt, probably. Almost probably and then, Amy Pond, I'm going to save you."

Amelia paused after his animated declaration before she set her face determinedly and leaned in close to the glasses. "No!"

He followed her as she led them back the way they had come. "Amy, you've got to help us help you." The Doctor ordered softly. "I need you to think back thirty-six years ago. Amy?" But she didn't respond to them, didn't act like she knew they existed just stormed into the engine room. "Amy!" The Doctor called after her but Rory didn't continue because he saw something smudged on the doors.

It was curious, because this whole facility was clean and sparkling except these two doors. He grabbed the looking glass and held it up to the door. _Doctor I'm waiting. _It was Amy's handwriting.

"You told her to leave us a sign. And she did and she waited." He whispered sadly. "Oh, Amy."

Reading that faded sign was the final blow for Rory Williams. He rushed after Amelia and angrily asked, "Why won't you help yourself?"

"He wants to rescue past me from thirty-six years back, which means I'll cease to exist." She answered not bothering to slow down for him. "Everything I've seen and done dissolves. Time is rewritten."

Rory paused in confusion, his mind racing to understand what the problem was, "That's…That's good, isn't it?"

She stopped and looked back at him, "I will die." Amelia stated blankly. "Another Amy who will take my place. An Amy who never got trapped at Two-Steams, an Amy who grew old with you. And she, in thirty-six years won't be me." She shook her head and walked away from him again.

"But you'll die in here!" He pointed out loudly, frustrated beyond belief with this whole situation.

The older woman froze her back to him. "Not if you take me with you…" She slowly turned to face him, "You came to rescue me, so rescue me."

Rory's heart stopped. His mind paused as he processed what she had said. "Leave her and take you?" He clarified slowly.

"We could take this Amy with us easy." The Doctor confirmed quietly. "But if we do, our Amy has to wait thirty-six year to be rescued."

"So I have to choose," Rory shook his head—which hurt more than it had when he had first woken up, this whole situation was a mess-and-a-half, "Which wife do I want?"

"She is me. "Amelia enforced her voice intense with her desire to be saved. "We're both me."

"You being here is wrong. For a single day, an hour, let alone a lifetime. I swore to protect you." She turned away from him and entered her room, "I promised." He finished quietly.

"Rory." The Doctor cut in quietly, his voice an encouragement that Rory couldn't allow himself to listen to.

"This is your fault." He accused softly, his mind far away from the words he spoke and his heart too broken to care.

"I am so sorry, but Rory—" he started but the distressed Human interrupted him.

"No, this is your fault!" He yelled, lashing out at the Time Lord because there was no one else who knew what he was going through, screaming because there was nothing he could do to make any of it better and he was at patience's end. "You should look at a history book once in a while, see if there's an outbreak of plague of not!"

"That is not how I travel." The Doctor reminded him with a hint of defense in his voice. And it wasn't, he liked not knowing where or when he was when he walked out of the TARDIS doors, he liked the surprise of just being there, loved the excitement when it was perfect, enjoyed the danger of death when it all went wrong. That was how he travelled.

But Rory couldn't remember any of that, not now with this decision in the forefront of his mind. "Then I do not want to travel with you!" He screamed. He grabbed the glasses off of his face and threw them on the ground, wincing a little as feedback sounded.

There was silence from the Doctor for a moment as Rory took deep breaths, trying desperately to calm himself down.

"Rory," The Doctor said gently, "if the time glass is still on, if the link's still active, I think I can hear Amy. _Our_ Amy."

And if he listened closely, Rory could too. She was crying. He followed the sound of her tears into the room where he could see her through the looking glass—young, vibrant, beautiful, alive. "Oh Amy." He whispered.

He saw the older Amelia sitting down in the corner and went to her, crouching down to talk to her. "Look me in the face and say you won't help her."

She looked straight into his eyes and coldly said, "I will not help her."

"Okay." He said, hurt by her harsh words and at a loss of what to do next. He shook his head and glanced over where the young Amelia was standing in the looking glass. He went and sat on the barrel and hoped that this plan worked. "Look me in the face and say it now." He ordered and held up the glass so that she could see herself from thirty-six years ago.

"Rory? Rory, is that you?" The young Amy asked, her face covered in tears of loneliness and fear. "Rory, where are you?"

"Same place as you. Only I'm a—a bit ahead." He answered watching the older woman come up to him.

"I remember this." She muttered as she took the glass from him.

"But who's she? There's no one else here, but…Me?" She asked but Rory didn't answer. Instead he walked out of the room, this was the moment to let his smart and beautiful wife to shine—if anyone could change the older Amy's mind it was young Amy. Robot Rory looked at him as he stopped outside the door and handed him the glasses. Shyly Rory took them, feeling guilty for what he had said to the doctor.

He tried not to listen but he heard pieces of the conversation anyway.

"Because they leave you here. Because the get in their TARDIS and they fly away." Old Amy answered a question that Rory had missed.

"No. Rory wouldn't." Young Amy defended him and he smiled at the conviction in her voice. "Something must have stopped him."

"You did." Old Amy stated. "Or rather, the old version of you. The me version of you. I refused to help them. I won't let them save myself."

"Why?" His Amy asked quietly, seemingly very comfortable talking to an older version of herself.

He couldn't hear the first part of her answer, her voice was too quiet but he heard the end of it. "And that's why you'll refuse to help when it's your turn. And nothing you can say will change that."

Then his wife said something that made his broken heart mend itself. "Three words. What about Rory?"

He could remember the first time he realized that he was in love with Amelia Pond. He was thirteen years old and they had been best friends for years, ever since she had moved to Leadworth from Scotland. But that day, something different happened. She wasn't at school and he had gone to her place afterwards to see what had happened to her. Her aunt Sharon told him that her parents had taken her to the hospital because she was really sick. That night he had nightmares of her dying and he would never get to see her again and so, the next day after his dad got off of work, he had taken Rory to visit her. He could remember the horror of seeing her laying on the hospital bed all hooked up to the machines. And when Brian had wanted them to leave, Rory threw a quiet fit, until Amy's mother had said that she could take him home later. He stayed for hours at her bedside, he read her books, told her everything about himself, and even made up stories of her imaginary Raggedy Doctor in his flying Blue Box. Finally Amy's mother told him it was time to leave and that time he went willingly. But before they could leave, Amy opened her eyes for a moment and smiled when she saw him.

And that was it, the moment that he knew that she was the girl of his dreams and that he could love no other person in the universe as much as he loved her. The moment he realized that he wanted to become a doctor so that he could protect and take care of her always.

Rory was startled back into the present by the two women laughing over something.

"All those boys chasing me." Old Amy asked seriously, "But it was only ever Rory. Why was that?"

"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful, and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're dull as a brick?" Young Amy paused before continuing, "But then there's other people, and you meet them and you think, "Not bad. They're okay." And then, you get to know them and, and their face just sort of becomes them. Like their personality's written all over it. And they just, they turn into something so…beautiful."

"Rory's the most beautiful man I've ever met." Both Amys said together and Rory didn't know if he had ever felt so loved as he did in that moment.

"Please, do it for him." Young Amy requested softly.

"You…You're asking me to defy destiny, causality, the nexus of time itself, for a boy." Old Amy argued.

"You're Amy…He's Rory." Young Amelia answered. "And, oh, yes I am."

The curtain opened and Rory turned to see the older Amy. "I'm going to pull time apart for you." She told him and there were tears in her eyes. Slowly she walked towards him and hesitantly he kissed his wife.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Okay, Doctor, Two-Streams is back on air." Amy informed the Doctor as she led the way out of the engine room. "Right, okay, so this is big news. This is temporal earthquake time. I'm officially changing my own future. Hold onto your spectacles. In my past, I saw my future-self refuse to help you. I am now changing that future and agreeing. Every law of time says that shouldn't be possible."

"Yes," The Doctor agreed, apparently unsurprised by the change in plans, "except sometimes knowing your own future is what enables you to change it. Especially if you're bloody-minded, contradictory, and completely unpredictable."

"So, basically, if you're Amy, then." Rory responded. But he wasn't just thinking about his wife: instead a fatal shot, a golden light, and a dead body until what seemed like forever away a living, breathing, younger Doctor there in front of them with no idea of what was wrong with them and why they stared at him as if he were a ghost.

"Yes, if anyone could defy pre-destiny, it's your wife." The Doctor's voice broke Rory out of his thoughts and back into their predicament.

"It's not about what I'm doing, it's about who I'm doing it for." They reached the hallway but stopped when Amelia turned to look at Rory intently, "I am trusting you to watch my back, Rory."

"Always." Rory promised, as he had when he had uttered his wedding vows on the happiest day of his life. "You and me, always."

"Cause, here's the deal. You take me, too, in the TARDIS. Me too."

"But that means there'll be two of you, permanently." Rory said slowly, trying to imagine a reality in which this worked but completely failed. "Forever."

"And that way we both get to live." She nodded as if this was fine, as if this didn't make everything so much more difficult.

"Two Amys together." Rory asked the Doctor, turning to the side so that his wife couldn't see the range of emotions cross his face. "Can that work?"

"I don't know. It's your marriage." The Doctor answered, and Rory knew that he was stalling his mind racing with consequences and possibilities. "Perhaps, maybe if I shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, recalibrated the doomsday pumpers and jettison the karaoke bar, yes, maybe, yes." His voice drifted off and Rory wasn't sure that he was actually talking to them or to himself but then he spoke again. "It could do it. The TARDIS could sustain the paradox."

"Right. Amy." He murmured and looked behind him at his wife before he held the looking glass up to where young Amy was standing by the door. "And Amy…The wife and the wife. Right." And though he tried to wrap his head around this he couldn't figure out how this going to work.

"Okay, Amy, Past Amy, stand by the door. Future Amy, you too." The Doctor ordered, "Future Amy, can I borrow your sonic screw—it—it's a probe." He stumbled over the word before catching himself.

"It's a screwdriver." Future Amy gave in as she handed it to Rory.

"Rory, sonic it, double our power. Amy Now, you're our link to Amy Then. We need to get a signal through and that signal will be a thought." Rory finished sonicing Amy's screwdriver and threw it over to her as the Time Lord went on. "Amy Now and Amy Then, share a thought. Something so powerful that it can rip through time. Rory, sonic the pin front. Inside you'll find three levers and a jumble of wiring. That's the regulator valve. After we reroute it, you'll have ten minutes to get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor's voice quickened as it always did when he was working the technical engineering parts of their adventures, too fast for Rory to really understand half of what he was saying but he did his best. The Doctor did hate to repeat himself.

"Okay." Rory said after he had opened the pin front and found exactly what the Doctor had said he would find. The jumble of wiring sent a shot of fear through his system as he realized that _he _was going to be messing with them. He had never been good with engineering and that was just on Earth, this was a whole new planet.

"Pull out the red and green receptors. Reroute the blue into the red and the green into the blue. Leave the red loose, and on no account touch anything yellow." Rory struggled to follow his instructions and do what he was told but his progress was too slow for the mad genius. "Come on, Rory, it's hardly rocket science. It's just quantum physics!"

"Right." He muttered, and if he wasn't trying to remember what color to touch or not then he might have been irritated but as it was he didn't have time. "Okay, blue into red. Red into…" His mind went blank for a second but thankfully he remembered quickly. "Green."

"Yes, yes, now the levers, throw them in order. And Amy, start thinking the most important thought you have ever had. Hold it in your head and do not let it go." The Doctor ordered intensely. "Lever one."

Rory threw the first lever and looked over at the older Amy where she stood by the door, facing Rory.

"Macarena." She said quietly, closing her eyes.

"She's doing the Macarena." He whispered in surprise. Rory stared at her and felt his heart swell with love. "Our first kiss."

"Lever two, Rory." The Human shook his head slightly and obeyed. Young Amy began to appear but she was faint like a hologram.

"Lever three!"

Rory threw the last lever and startled back when the looking glass that he had leaned against the wall shattered, but it was forgotten when young Amy appeared fully in this time. Without a thought he ran to her and pulled her into his arms and held her tight, thankful beyond words that she was okay and here with him. Then awkwardly they both looked at Old Amy who stood silently watching them. Unsure of what to do, Rory took a step away from both of them as if that could help. Yes, this was already heading to trouble and it had barely begun.

"Hello." Old Amy said hesitantly, and Young Amy echoed her. They looked at each other for a moment before they both began, "I don't know what…"

"Weird." Rory murmured, as if 'weird' could explain any of the feelings that he was feeling as he looked at the Amy that he had grown up with and loved forever and the Amy that he had only met a couple of hours ago and yet known his whole life. This truly was a mess.

"Okay, this is weird." They both said again. "Right, just stop doing that."

"How about, Amy One speaks first?" Rory suggested but it was a mistake and he knew it when they both looked at him with identical expressions.

"Which one's Amy One?" They asked and he started to speak that the younger was but he thought better of it and closed his mouth. "I am." They argued. "Rory!"

He was saved from having to do anything by painful sparks that hit his eyes from the glasses that now looked like they were being hit by lightning. He cried out softly as it continued.

"Rory, Rory, take the glasses off. You'll get temporal feedback." The Doctor said quickly and Rory took no time at all to take them off and throw them on the ground. Abruptly, an explosion sounded through the glasses and Rory hoped that everything was okay in the ship. "Calm down there!" The Doctor told his ship before turning his attention back to them. "Rory, Amy, we've created a massive paradox and the TARDIS hates it. She's still fazing, trying to get out of there." His voice faded until they couldn't hear him anymore but he came back to them only a moment later. "You've got eight minutes left. I'm sorry, you're on your own now."

As if to prove him right, the glasses sparked dangerously before shorting out. Rory stared at them for a moment before he straightened and turned to the two Amys that stood before him. "I'm not on my own. I've got my wives." He said, trying to force cheerfulness but from the look on both of their faces he didn't succeed.

"Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness." Three HandBots appeared in front of them and Old Amy jumped into action. She tossed Young Amy one of her swords as they walked quickly up to the HandBots.

They each went for one of the three robots. Old Amy hit one with the sword before turning to Young Amy and saying, "Kate Hailer. Year ten hockey."

"Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness." The HandBots repeated again and again as if the three would just give up if they heard it enough.

"Go for the shins." Young Amy muttered and did just that.

Rory struggled with his opponent before Young Amy cut the head off. Before they could rejoice in their victory, five more HandBots teleported in.

"They're cutting off the departure gate, we can't get back to the TARDIS!" Rory called out watching them carefully.

"Side door. We'll go behind them." Old Amy said.

The side door was less of a door and more like a window big enough to slip through which they did, Rory in the front but Old Amy caught up quickly to lead them through.

"So you think that you're going to come with us, just like that?" Young Amy asked, slightly out of breath from running down the stairs.

"Yeah, just like that." Old Amy said bluntly, not bothering to hide her disdain for the situation.

"Rory, talk to her." Young Amy started but they finished in synch.

"Now, ladies." Rory stalled as they reached the end of the stairwell and kept moving through a darkened corroder. "Please, try—"

"Where are you going to live?" Young Amy interrupted with a valid question but considering their situation Rory wished they could set this aside until they all got to safety.

"Not with you, don't worry. I'll go travelling. Pop back for Christmas, maybe Easter." Old Amy responded and Rory was rather happy with that answer in that at least they wouldn't have to deal with two of the same person all the time before he realized that he wasn't sure how he felt about an older version of his wife gallivanting around the universe alone…Or perhaps not alone forever.

"Amy, you always said cooking Christmas dinner, you wished there were two of you" He said, refusing to think about that ghastly thought right now and trying to alleviate the dilemma somehow.

He only got a nasty look from the younger Amy. But their argument was interrupted as they reached the room with the teleport. Young Amy stayed by the door to stand guard while Rory and the other Amy moved to the console in the middle of the room.

"Can't we just teleport in?" He asked, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

"It's not a teleport, it's a time-jump." Old Amy explained, proving Rory's expectations right.

"We can't jump within the same time-stream." Young Amy finished. The older one stopped to stare at her before begrudgingly nodding in agreement.

"The TARDIS is in the gallery." Rory informed the older Amelia as she messed with some buttons.

"_Gallery closed." _The computer told them.

"The controls are stuck." Old Amy pointed out as she pushed some more buttons. "They've locked them from the outside."

"Can you unlock them?" Rory asked, moving from one wife to the other unable to stay still with the HandBots beating against the door.

"Yeah, give me a minute and your cutest smile." She said and he threw her a quick smile—hoping that it was the one she was talking about. "That's the one." She smiled flirtatiously.

"Can you stop flirting with me?" He asked her, leaning in close. "You're old enough to be my—"

"I've known you my whole life." She interrupted quickly and rolled her eyes. "How many games of doctors and nurses?"

He tried to shush her but she merely smiled and told him, "Don't get coy now."

"Um…" Young Amy said awkwardly.

Suddenly all the teleport doors opened and a HandBot appeared in each one. "Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness." They began.

The younger Amy threw the sword she held to the experienced fighter as Rory soniced the console and pushed the button that would take them to the gallery.

"Do not be alarmed. This is a…"Their voices faded away as the group ran through the door but started up as soon as they came through. "Kindne—" The older Amy slashed through the HandBot as Rory and the younger Pond ran. They reached the door and together they pulled down a robot.

Rory turned back to the older Amy and gestured to the door. "Come on!" He called.

"Go!" She yelled. I've got your back!"

And with one last desperate look, Rory gently pushed the younger woman through the door. They met a HandBot immediately and Rory hit it on the head before crouching and touching the hands together as fast as he could.

"Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness." Rory heard the voice through the yells of the older Amy and the robots' mantra as a second robot appeared suddenly and touched Amelia.

Time seemed to stop. His heart clenched in terror and very suddenly everything was very very clear to Rory Williams because there was danger around and his wife was lying limply on the ground, her eyes closed, and the HandBot was going in for the kill.

"No!" He screamed and grabbed the Mona Lisa and smashed it through the HandBot's head. There was a flicker of light and the robot stopped moving but Rory didn't care. He ran to his wife and gingerly picked her up running as soon as he was sure he had her secure. He barely looked where he was going, just looked at her in fear, trying desperately not to notice how cool her skin was against his and how her breathing seemed to be slowing. He reached the TARDIS and kicked in the door, hardly noticing that it was unlocked.

The Doctor must have been watching on the screen because he was ready for them. As Rory gingerly set his wife down on the floor, the Time Lord placed his suit-coat underneath her head. "Its okay, Rory. Here. It's just an anesthetic. She'll be fine." He consoled after he glanced at her.

Rory stayed with his wife, watching her carefully for any change but the Doctor ran to close the wide-open door of the TARDIS. The Human wasn't paying attention to him only to Amelia Pond but he was forced to when he heard the Doctor's quiet voice whisper, "I'm sorry." Then the door slammed shut and the lock slid into place. With the older Amelia on the wrong side of the door.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

"What are you doing?" Rory asked him, a different fear than he had just felt twisting his inside apart.

"I lied to her, Rory." The Doctor stated as he turned to him and Rory stood up slowly.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, trying to break down that impenetrable door.

"There can never be two Amys in the TARDIS. The paradox would be too massive." The Doctor explained over her.

"You can't leave her, she'll die!" Rory implored the man desperately, horrified that he hadn't predicted this betrayal, terrified for his wife's sake.

"Doctor, let me in." She whispered outside.

"No. She'll never have existed." The alien countered as if that made it all okay. "When we save our Amy, this future won't have happened."

"But she happened! She's there!" Rory yelled walking up to him as if distance could change the Time Lord's mind when the banging against the door couldn't.

"Doctor, please! I trusted you!"

The Doctor closed his eyes for a slight moment and Rory thought for a second that maybe they had made a difference but he was wrong. "No, no she's not real."

"She is real. Let her in." Rory commanded his voice cold with desperation.

"Look, we take this Amy, we leave ours. There can only be one Amy in the TARDIS. Which one do you want?" He paused then took Rory's hand in his own and set it on the lock. "It's your choice."

Rory stared at him in horror. "This isn't fair." He whispered. "You're turning me in to you." He didn't know what he was saying, didn't know what could be worse than this, didn't know what to do. He only knew that he loved his wife and she was begging them to save her.

"Your choice, Rory." The Doctor said softly, not even blinking at Rory's harsh words.

"Doctor!"

"I—I—can't. I—" Rory began but he couldn't finish. He stared at the Doctor as he went to check on Amy before moving to the console where he waited. Waited for Rory to make an impossible choice. He looked at his beautiful wife lying on the floor and wondered how he could find the strength to make this decision that he so fervently wished he didn't have to make. His choice.

"Doctor!" The banging stopped and Rory looked back at the door. Amelia softly set her hand on the glass and he rubbed his hands over his face, at a complete loss. They had one Amy, she was young and vibrant, and happy. He could have a life with her. But Amy was out there as well, begging him to let her in. She was old and bitter and angry but she was still Amelia Pond and he still loved her with all his being. And all he had to do was let her in. Let her in and kill the one that was already safe.

"Rory, please." She asked. And Rory couldn't help but put his hand on hers, wishing that there was no distance between their skin, wishing that they had never come to this planet. But sometimes, wishes don't come true.

"The look on your face when you carried her…me…her," She began, her voice was muffled through the wood between them but there was no mistaking the tears in her voice. "when you carried her away. You used to look at me like that. I'd forgotten how much you loved me." He leaned his head against the door as tears ran down his face. "I'd forgotten how much I love being her. Amy Pond in the TARDIS with Rory Williams."

And in the end the choice was less of a decision and more of an instinct to open the door, take her in his arms, and hold her till the pain of this all went away. A sob tore through him as he shook his head. "I'm sorry," He said over his shoulder but not even he could say if he was apologizing to his wife or to the Time Lord. "I can't do this." He set his hand on the lock and began to slide it.

"If you love me, don't let me in." Amelia's voice stopped him from opening the door completely. "Open that door, I will. I will come in. I don't want to die. I won't bow out bravely. I'll be kicking, screaming, fighting…to the end."

"Amy…"He whispered helplessly against the door, his hand still poised on the lock. "Amy, I love you."

"I love you, too." She wept. "Don't let me in. Tell Amy, your Amy, I'm giving her the days. The days with you. Days to come."

"I'm so, so sorry." He begged her to forgive him.

"The days I can't have. Take them, please. I'm giving you my days."

"I'm so, so sorry." He said again, unable to say anything else, unable to move from the door, unable to think of anything beyond Amelia Pond and all the days he had had with her. He let his hand fall from the lock and turned away from the door but he couldn't bring himself to leave her completely alone. Not that she would ever know.

"Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness." Rory wasn't sure how much of the faint words he heard or how much he imagined them but he did know that they were there and that his wife's time was almost up. "Do not be alarmed. This is a kindness."

"Interface?" Amy called, her voice further away now that she was no longer waiting by the door.

"I am here, Amy Pond." The Interface's voice was once again calm and comforting but it could offer him no consolation.

"Show me Earth. Show me home…" There a slight lull but he couldn't bring himself to look at the scanner nor out the window, for fear he would open the door despite her plea. "Did I ever tell you about this boy I met there…who pretended to be in a band?" Her voice faded off then and Rory knew that the HandBots after thirty-six years of chasing her had finally succeeded in killing her. The Girl Who Waited could finally be at peace now.

The TARDIS left Appalapachia and Rory hoped that all he ever saw of the planet was locked away in his memories.

Rory stared at the door but he didn't see it. He stayed where he was because he couldn't move. Surely if he moved then he would break into a million pieces but then it would only be a delayed reaction because he had already shattered and he didn't know why he wasn't scattered across the ground of the ship.

"Rory. It's okay, she's fine, she's alive, Amy's here." The voice, the words, none of it meant anything to him and he didn't understand why it persisted in repeating it again and again. "Rory! It's okay, you're alright. Rory, please, just come over here. Sit down before you fall. Come on, please, Rory. Let me help you."

A hand on his shoulder gently but forcefully led him to sit on the stairs but still he couldn't respond to anything. He couldn't even think of the name of the man who sat by him, who whispered words of comfort but offered no excuses. The man who stayed with him and held him as the tears fell down his face and the sobs tore through his body. The man whose voice never fell silent as if he knew that Rory needed the noise to prove that there was more than the broken Human in the ship.

He didn't know how long he sat there before he was finally able to begin to pick up the shattered pieces of his soul and put them back together. Didn't know how long it took for him to remember the name of the man who sat next to him. Couldn't tell how long it took for the tears on his face to dry. But finally, with the planet long behind them, he was able to breathe again. Able to straighten his back and rub his hands over his face. Able to move again. Able to talk.

"Did you always know it wasn't going to work, saving both Amys?" He asked his voice hoarse and blank with lack of emotion. He didn't know why he asked that particular question, only that he needed to break the silence that had fallen around them. The silence reminded him of a grave and he couldn't deal with that, not with everything that had just taken place.

"I promised you I'd save her, and there she is." The Doctor answered, easily evading actually answering the question. "Safe."

Rory nodded, unsurprised by the elusion and actually thankful for the round-about answer. This was normal, this he could deal with. "Yeah, there she is." He said quietly, trying desperately to only see the Amy who lay on the chair where presumably the Doctor had moved her, but a flash of the older woman smiling at him despite herself, her voice begging him to save her, her last words made certain that he failed in his attempt.

He shook his head to dispel the memories and tried to focus on the here and now. Amelia woke up slowly, her eyes struggling to stay open in the bright light. Rory ran to her side, subtly trying to check her vital signs, looking into her eyes and trying to see if there was damage.

"You all right?" He asked, gently running his hand down her face, assuring himself that she was really here and not just a dream born out of his crazed grief.

She nodded in response, her eyes searching the room for someone that wasn't there.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, still afraid that the sedative had done something more drastic then put her to sleep.

"Where is she?" Amelia asked instead of answering and Rory froze unsure of what to say in answer.

Rory looked up at the Doctor to find the Time Lord staring at him for direction. Still his decision to decide the next course of action. Still his choice. Rory held his friend's eyes for a moment and wondered what to do. It would be so easy to nod and let the Doctor handle it all. And he would. He would be sensitive, gentle, and kind as he explained what had happened, no doubt taking all responsibility and making Rory out to be a hero. It would be so easy.

But the Doctor had been helping their relationship along for so long now. The day he had shown up at Rory's bachelor party with a plan to give them a romantic holiday to fix their suddenly strained relationship. All the times in Venice when he had pushed them together and did everything it took to make the couple stay engaged. And things had been good. They were happy, enjoying life with the Doctor. And then came the Silurains. Then came the crack.

And then Rome where it seemed everything bad that could possibly happen had come to pass and he had been hopeless and afraid that he had already lost the love of his life and she would never remember him. But the Doctor had been there with the engagement ring and a speech about ridiculous miracles that had, against all odds, come to pass and they had gotten married that day.

But even then, the Doctor hadn't stopped helping them along. From the little things like disappearing on their anniversary giving them time alone to the big things like the perfect, danger-free cruise on the StarWay of Orion he had set up for them. And the times when they had an argument and refused to talk, barely even looked at each, the Doctor had always made sure to stay out of the fights—refusing to take sides because he didn't like domestics—but somehow they had always seemed to end up in a situation that had trapped Amy and Rory together with the Doctor off somewhere else, but he had always conveniently showed up with a solution soon after they had made up.

Yes, it would be very easy to let him handle this. But it seemed to Rory that the Doctor had been smoothing out the glass for too long. It was time for Rory to step up and take responsibility. And so, hoping against hope that he didn't regret this, he slightly shook his head. The Doctor nodded once and walked away, disappearing quickly.

"Amy, it happened like this…"


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter

Amelia Williams had never been able to keep silent. When she was mad she screamed at everything and everyone until someone stopped her tirade. When confused she asked question after question until someone gave her a useful answer. When she was truly terrified she simply spoke of anything and everything. When she was sad she spoke of happy memories that had nothing to do with what had made her sad. It didn't matter what mood she was in or where they were, she liked to talk. It was something that he had always loved about her.

But after the tale was told her voice was silent. He waited impatiently and a bit afraid for her reaction, ready for the horror, the pain, the accusations, whatever she threw at him. But he wasn't ready for the wall of silence that she had built.

He stared at her and searched for something in her face that would tell him what she was thinking, what she was feeling but her face was expressionless. He didn't know what any of this meant, didn't know how to deal with this but he stayed silent in the hopes that she would tell him soon.

"Come on." She finally said but her words didn't help him at all, "I'm famished. Let's get something to eat."

"Okay." He said quietly and gave her his hand to help her stand up. She didn't let go of him as they walked silently to the kitchen and for that he was grateful. There was hope for him yet.

They reached the kitchen and stopped just inside. "Oh, that man." Amelia whispered softly, shaking her head as she saw what lay before them.

There were lit candles everywhere, a table full of their favorite dishes, and soft music playing. The Doctor's work no doubt. Rory closed his eyes and whispered a quiet thank-you to the man. It seemed that the Time Lord would never stop helping them out but he didn't think that that was such a bad thing after all.

Rory held her chair out for her before sitting down himself and staring at the meal the Doctor had laid out for them. He kept his mouth shut as they dished out their food but he couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"Amy…Are you mad at me?" He asked hesitantly, readying for the worst.

"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you, Rory?" She asked, her beautiful face frowning in confusion. A better reaction then he had hoped for.

"Why would you…" He trailed off, his words lost now that she had let him in. "Amy, I _chose_ the older version of you. I was going to open the door. Do you understand what that means? It means that you would have died. This version of you—full of life and joy—you would have died. And that's on me. I chose that for you. If our places were reversed, I would be mad at me!"

She stared at him for a long moment after he stopped himself from continuing, an expression that he couldn't interpret on her face. "Rory," she finally started, "If our places had been reversed things would be so different. I never would have—oh, how do I say this right?" She paused and ran her hand through her hair tiredly. "Rory. I'm selfish. I could never have made that choice, and I'm not saying that to be mean, I just…you thought of her—of me, and I would only have thought of myself. If it had been me, I would have picked you—I mean this version of you because I want to have you with me every day of my life. I know what it feels like when you're gone and not coming back and I don't ever want to feel that way again. So, I would have left and never looked back because I can't live a day without you. But you…" She shook her head, a tear falling down her perfect face. "You are brilliant and beautiful and perfect. You thought of me, that's why you opened the door, and I can't be mad at you for that. She was begging you to let her in and you have never been able to say no to me, especially when I'm crying, so of course you let her in. And I'm not mad at you for that."

Rory breathed a sigh of relief, his mind spinning from his wife's explanation, completely at a loss of what to say.

"You know," she continued when he failed to speak, "every day I wake up and I look in the mirror and I wonder how you can love me. And every day I wonder if today is the day that you get tired of my aggressiveness and my fiery ways and you just walk away. Walk away and don't look back. And yet every night, I go to bed and you're there, by my side with a goodnight kiss and a smile that never fails to make me laugh. And I know that you still love me. I know it because with everything you do you make sure that I know. Even when you're mad you pull out my chair for me, you open the door, when I'm sad you make a joke that is just between us, when I'm mad you never hesitate to apologize and then you smile and just like that I'm reminded of all the reasons that I love you so much. I know you love me because whatever you do your love for me shows through."

She walked over to him and he pulled her into a hug. She laughed and seated herself into his lap and whispered into his ear. "Now, if it had been another woman behind that door, and not an older version of me or even a younger version of me then it would be an entirely different matter, Mr. Pond."

"Never." He promised sincerely, "I could never love another woman."

"I know and I could never love another man." She reassured him.

He smiled happily and for the first time since this whole mess had started, he really was happy. He put his arms around his wife and gently set his lips against hers in a tender kiss.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That night, when they lay down to sleep, Rory had no doubt that he would dream of death. And he was right; he did have nightmares of losing the ones he loved. But it wasn't his wife that he dreamed about, but his best friend…

"_I watched him die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does…" His voice drifted through black before a blazing sun took the place of darkness._

_The Utah Dessert was hot and barren, no buildings in sight, no people to get in the way, only beautiful nature. _

"_Howdy." Amelia and Rory turned to see the Doctor sitting on a car. He looked pretty much exactly like he had the last time they had seen him, with his suit complete with a purple bow tie, with only a minor difference—a Stetson._

"_Doctor!" Amy said excitedly, as they both ran across the road to see him._

"_Ha,ha, it's the Ponds!" The Doctor laughed happily as he pulled Amelia into a tight hug. "Hello Ponds."_

"_So," Amy said straightening his shirt, "Somebody's been a busy boy, then eh?"_

_Rory watched the two as they caught up, shaking his head with a smile because this was just like old times and to be honest he had missed this. Missed the Doctor._

"_Did you see me?" The Time Lord asked as if they could have missed his mark in their history books._

"_Couse." Amy nodded, sharing a look with Rory that said the same thing that he had just been thinking._

"_Stalker!" _

"_Alert." Amy clarified._

"_Husband." Rory waved slightly, reminding them of his presence._

"_And Rory the Roman!" The Doctor grinned and pulled him into a close hug. "Come here you."_

_They all laughed, content to be in each other's presence again and Rory wondered how he could ever have wanted to leave their friend for a normal life._

"_Hey, nice hat." He complimented the alien because frankly the cowboy hat was much better than the Fez had been. _

"_I wear a Stetson now," The Doctor said as he turned around showing off the hat, "Stetsons are cool."_

_A gun shot sounded and went straight through the hat, and they all turned around to see River Song blow on her smoking gun._

"_Hello Sweetie." She greeted with a smile._

"_River!" The Doctor greeted her with a smile before he put his arms around the Ponds' shoulders and pushed them towards the car. "Come on, we have places to be."_

"_Where are we going?" Rory asked as he slipped in the back by River. Amy claimed shotgun. "And where did you get a car—an actual normal car?"_

_The Doctor frowned at him in the mirror, "It's mine, haven't you seen the garage in the TARDIS?" Rory shrugged and shook his head, because he hadn't seen the garage but then he hadn't seen a lot of the endless rooms the ship had, so it wasn't that much of a surprise._

_The Doctor drove—surprisingly well though a bit too fast—to a café that was about ten minutes away from where they had been before. _

_Rory sat down next to River after he had bought their drinks, staring at the two time travelers as they both flipped through identical blue diaries._

"_Oh, Jim the Fish, how is he?" River finished whatever she had been saying before, a huge grin on her face, as he sat down._

"_Still building his dams." The Doctor answered moving over to let Amy in the booth._

"_Sorry, what are you two doing?" Rory asked them confused. He had only met River Song the once back when they had to restart the universe and though he liked her he did find it odd that the Doctor had invited her to his reunion with the Ponds. _

"_They're both time travelers, so they never meet in the right order, they're synching their diaries." Amelia explained helpfully before she turned to the Doctor. "So what's happening then? Because you've been up to something."_

_Rory looked across the table at the Doctor who smiled sadly as he looked at each and every one of them and Rory felt a ball of fear settle into his stomach. "I've been running." He finally started, "Faster than I've ever run and I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight," He paused and caught each of their eyes, "I'm going to need you all with me."_

"_Okay." Amy promised and Rory nodded in agreement. "We're here, what's up?"_

"_Picnic." The Doctor answered, surprising the Human with the normal answer, "Then a trip, somewhere different, somewhere brand new."_

"_Where?" Amy asked curiously._

"_Space. 1969."_

_After that, they talked about what they had been up to in the time that he had been out of their lives and listened to River tell a story about Easter Island filled with statues. When they had finished their drinks, the Doctor drove them to Lake Silencio where they set up the picnic that he had prepared before they had seen him._

"_So, when are we going to 1969?" Rory asked after the Doctor had poured them each a cup of wine._

"_And since when do you drink wine?" Amy asked the alien who was staring at the bottle of wine warily. _

"_I'm eleven hundred and three, I must have drunk it sometimes." He said and took a drink which he abruptly spat out. "Uh, why it's horrid!" Rory laughed and took a drink of his wine._

"_Eleven hundred and three?" Amy stated, "You were nine hundred and eight the last time we saw you."_

"_And you've put on a few pounds; I wasn't going to mention it." The Doctor retorted without heat._

"_Ah, the moon." The Doctor said, pointing at the easily visible moon in the wide blue sky. "Of course, you lot did a lot more than look didn't you? Big silvery thing in the sky, you couldn't resist it. Quite right."_

"_The moon landing was in '69." Rory perked up, excited by the possibility of actually seeing that for the very first time, "Is that where we're going?"_

"_Oh, a lot more happens in '69 than anyone remembers. Human beings…I thought I'd never get done saving you." The Doctor said and Rory's stomach clenched nervously again. _

_There was something going on with the Doctor and though he tried no to show it, Rory sensed that the Time Lord was tired. But tired of what? And what could Rory do to help him? But there was no time to worry about that as he spotted a silver truck park and an elderly man get out of his car to wave at the Doctor who seemed unsurprised to see him._

"_Oh my." River whispered shocked, and they all turned to see what she was staring at._

_It was a shock: an astronaut in a complete space suit was coming out of the water.__**WC.**_

"_You all need to stay back." The Doctor ordered, staring knowingly at the being before them. "Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" Then he walked alone down to meet the newcomer._

"_That's an astronaut." Rory whispered to his wife, "That's an Apollo Astronaut in the lake."_

"_Look." She nodded, her eyes following the Doctor as he reached the spaceman. _

_They all stared silently as the Doctor spoke, but they were unable to hear anything. Then the Astronaut raised its hand and fired a weapon they couldn't see twice at the Doctor who was thrown back. _

"_Doctor!" Amy screamed and began to run towards him. _

_Rory ran after her and grabbed one of her arms while River grabbed the other._

"_Amy, stay back!" River yelled but Amy struggled against their hold. "We have to stay back!" She explained but her own voice was horrified. _

_Rory kept his hold on his wife staring at the Doctor as a golden light began to surround him. There was silence as the monster looked on, it's hand still raised. The Doctor threw his arms out, that light encircling his whole body. The Astronaut fired once more and this time the Doctor fell and stayed still. The Astronaut turned around and began to walk back into the lake._

"_No!" River screamed and this time it was she who began to run towards the Doctor but Amy and Rory weren't far behind._

_He reached the Doctor first, and he slid to his knees, seconds before River and Amy. River pulled out a device and scanned the Doctor but there was only a noise that Rory knew all too well. One constant line: there was no pulse._

"_River!" Amy called desperately her hands running down the Doctor's face._

_River looked at both of them and there was death in her eyes. Rory couldn't breathe, he felt like someone had just punched him in the lungs, and his vision blurred. His world was crashing down and there was no one who could help him. The only one who could have was lying lifeless in front of him. _

_River stood up, pulling out her gun and shooting at the Astronaut who was already too far away for the modern-day bullets to hit. "'Course not." She whispered softly but Rory didn't take the time to wonder what that meant. Not right now, not with the Doctor lying there…dead._

_How could this have happened? This was impossible! The Doctor was supposed to outlive them by thousands of years, his death could not be. Rory had spent so much time travelling with the Doctor that he had prepared himself for his own death but the Doctor's? Never._

"_River, he can't be dead." Amy sobbed, her body rocking, her hands holding her middle as if to hold herself together. "It's not possible."_

_He should have gone and comforted her but he didn't have any comfort to give, his own heart was breaking._

"_Whatever that thing was, it killed him in the middle of his regeneration cycle." River explained, her voice sharp and clipped, the unshed tears clear in her eyes. "His body was already dead. He didn't make it to the next one."_

"_Maybe he's a clone or a duplicate or something." Amy begged, grabbing at anything but the truth and Rory sympathized. After all it was the Doctor, if anyone could outrun death then it was him, wasn't it?_

"I've been running. Faster than I've ever run and I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop." _That's what the Doctor had told them. Perhaps he had known but those words didn't feel Rory with any hope that the Time Lord had a plan to get out. _

"_I believe I can save you some time." They all turned to look at the old man who had come up to them—the man who had arrived in the truck and they had all forgotten about. "That most certainly is the Doctor, and he is most certainly dead." He set a gas can down in front of them, "He said you'd need this."_

_They all stared at him silently. Rory swallowed and took a deep breath trying to pull himself together. He didn't try to stop the tears from falling though, some things were pointless. "Gasoline?" He asked hoarsely. _

_River Song closed her eyes and nodded slightly, "A Time Lord's body is a miracle. Even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who would rip the world apart for just one cell." She shook her head, struggling to continue, "We can't just leave him here. Or anywhere."_

"_Wake up, come on, wake up!" Amy begged the corpse desperately, leaning her head on his chest. "What do we do Rory?" _

_But Rory Williams had no answers for his wife, no words to make this all better, no smile to make the pain go away. _

"_We're his friends. We do what the Doctor's friends always do." River answered for him as she picked up the gas can. "As we're told."_

_He looked away from the Doctor's still body because he couldn't bear to see the sight anymore, and he spotted a boat moored on the side of the lake. "If we're going to do this…Let's do it properly."_

_The sky was darkening by the time everything was ready. But there were still goodbyes to say. Amy went first; she knelt by the boat and bowed her head. Rory, River, and the stranger stayed back giving her the time she needed. River's goodbye was over all too soon and then it was Rory's turn and he wasn't ready._

_He stood there and had no words to say, no coherent thought in his head, and nothing but pain in his heart. He waded out in the lake till the water was knee deep, keeping the boat with him with his hands before he said the only thing that he could. "Thank you, Doctor."_

_Rory Williams lit the match and threw it in; standing back and watching the body of his friend go up in flames…_

Rory startled awake, cold and shaking, his mind trembling with the force of his grief. He lay there for a moment, trying desperately to sink into a deep and restful sleep that wouldn't be marred by grief and pain and depression, yet afraid to really sleep for fear that he would once again see the horrible memory of losing his best friend.

Finally, unable to stay still he decided to walk out the grief. Again. In times like these the TARDIS was the best place to be. Her vast size, her never ending corridors, and the countless rooms to explore were perfect for restless nights. It was on these nights that he felt a bond with the ship, an odd kinship with her. For it was in these times that he knew without a doubt that she was alive.

Maybe it was because he let his mind wander from subject to subject, never focusing on anything for too long, staying far far away from thoughts and emotions and memories of sadness and pain. For whatever reason, while he walked he could sense her, just on the edge of consciousness, a calm and peaceful presence with undertones of power.

This night he walked in no particular direction, merely let his feet go where they wished and his thoughts drift where they pleased, so he was surprised to see the staircase that led to the Control Room. He hesitated a moment before stepping inside and seeing the very man that he had dreamt of, alive. Even though it had been some time since Utah, Rory caught himself staring at the Time Lord and wondering how this man could ever die, how the universe would get on without him saving them all the time. But they would have to, somehow. Not yet, but the knowledge that the Doctor would die was always there: a terrifying, painful thought that refused to leave no matter how hard Rory tried.

He watched the Doctor silently, relishing in the fact that for the moment he was alive. The alien was not running around nor dancing all over the control panel as Rory was used to seeing, instead he was staring at the scanner that showed images too fast for Rory to comprehend. His animated voice was silent, his body still, save for his right hand that tapped a beat against the panel, his eyes dark with unspoken thoughts and hidden emotions.

"Rory, are you all right?" The Doctor asked quietly, startling Rory out of his silence and making him a bit guilty for interrupting.

"Uh, yeah, I am." He answered coming down the stairs. "I think so at least."

"Are you sure?" The alien questioned, "You were rather upset."

Rory smiled slightly, "Yeah, I was, sorry about that. I'm fine now though, thanks."

The Doctor nodded and looked back at the scanner. "How's Amy. Is everything all right?"

All right with what, Rory wondered, with her health or between Amelia and Rory? Either way the answer was the same. "She's fine, resting—she's rather tired after the anesthetic but everything is good."

"Good, I'm glad." He murmured.

"What are you doing?" Rory finally asked after a moment's silence.

The Doctor glanced at him with a familiar look, the one that silently asked what schools taught their children nowadays. "I'm reading, what does it look like I'm doing?" He answered his voice devoid of criticism.

"Um," Rory looked at the screen unable to understand anything that it was showing, "I honestly have no idea. What are you reading?"

The Doctor shrugged, "The Study of Hyper Kinetics-it's quite fascinating really though the Sitihites are nowhere near perfecting it or even making it work but still, they are quite creative, I'll give them that."

Rory laughed, not to be mean but because it was good to see the Doctor getting excited for another race's developments and to see a bit of a shine in his eyes again. "Interesting." He said trying to stifle his laughter.

"Rory this is important stuff, you shouldn't mock." The Doctor told him seriously and Rory nodded. "Besides, shouldn't you be in bed?"

Rory's smile disappeared as the dream was brought back to the forefront of his thoughts. "Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Needed some company." He said.

"You're sure you're all right?" The Doctor wondered again, taking a close look into Rory's eyes. "Because I mean I can drop you off at home and you could take a break, you and Amy. If that's what you want."

"I'm fine, we're fine. We don't need a vacation or anything, we're happy where we are." Rory replied a bit confused where this had all come from.

"Right then, I must have been wrong." The Doctor smiled and flipped a switch that set the scanner to the normal screen. "Happens to the best of us.

"Doctor," Rory apologized, realizing with horror where this had come from, "I'm sorry for what I said. I was wrong and I well I shouldn't have said that—any of it. I'm sorry." The Doctor didn't respond merely went to the other side of the console to mess with some controls. "I don't want to leave, I-I want to stay with you and keep seeing these wonderful alien worlds and space stations and saving people. I really do."

"Do you though?" The Doctor asked quietly, his eyes holding Rory's in a captive stare. "Because this life, it's exhausting, it wears on people until they just have to get out. It's full of pain and running and danger and it doesn't always end…nice. Sometimes it ends in pain and tragedy. And sometimes…sometimes I can't save them and they, they die. So, maybe it's best to, to get out before that happens. To get you and your wife far away from me and close to safety. Have a house and a job and friends that you don't have to lie to and a family that doesn't have to worry about where you are but, but ask you about normal things like did you catch that show on the telly? You could settle down have a family of your own—children that you can raise and teach what you want and tell them you love them without having to worry about age issues and know that they are yours the day they are born and not years after knowing them."

"And leave you?"

The Doctor shook his head slowly, "Yes leave me. Leave me for a—a better life, a happier life free of me and my adventures that never seem to go right."

"A better life?" Rory repeated incredulously, "Better for who? Not for you, you're rubbish on your own—you told me so yourself—and certainly not better for Amy and me. This life is so beautiful. Yes, it's full of running and danger and pain and hard choices and trouble that you have to get us out of, but this…this life is the better one."

The Doctor stared at him and Rory could see the disbelief in the Time Lord's eyes. But everything that he had said was truth, a truth that he had never put into words or consciously thought before but it was there just the same. And at that moment, all he wanted to do was to make the Doctor understand what he really felt, to tell him what he meant to Rory. He had to, before the Doctor's time ran out.

"You know on Earth, people dream of seeing the universe. They look up at the sky at night and dream of touching the stars." Rory started, he picked his words carefully and spoke slowly to get his point across. "But I don't dream about it. Not anymore, because I do it. I know that I can open those doors right now and I can literally float in space, I can put my hand out there and feel the heat of a star. And you would be there to catch me. Who else can say that? You're the greatest man I know, Doctor, and I do not want to leave you. Never."

"You will." The Doctor promised with certainty. "One day, maybe not for a long time, but one day you and Amy will want to leave."

"Maybe one day," Rory admitted though he could not imagine ever wanting to give this all up, "But not today."

The Doctor nodded, "I'm glad." He straightened and moved to the other side of the console where he pushed some buttons and pulled some levers. "You should get some rest, before Amelia wakes up and finds you gone; else we're both be in trouble."

Rory laughed and started to leave but when he got to the top of the stairs he paused and turned back, "Doctor, what will you do?"

"Me?" The Doctor answered with a small smile, "I'm going to touch the stars, Rory."


	11. The Epilogue

Epilogue

Rory stared down at his wife with a smile, because she was here and they were alive and things were going to be okay. Tomorrow they might go through a situation that was just as heartbreaking, just as horrible, just as painful as what they had done today or perhaps they would have a peaceful trip to a planet full of new and wondrous things. Whatever it turned out to be, Rory wouldn't trade his life with anyone, this was perfect.

He had always known what he wanted in his life, but sometimes dreams changed. He no longer cared about a house because he had the entire universe to live in. He was no longer concerned about getting a nice job to support his family because he could care for so many more then he could at a hospital. Sometimes dreams changed, and sometimes you grew out of them, and sometimes—

Amelia Williams opened her eyes groggily, "Come back to bed, Rory." She murmured before turning over and falling once more into sleep. Rory smiled lovingly at her and slipped into bed beside her.

Sometimes dreams really do come true.

The End.


End file.
